Healthy Carrot Muffins
Healthy carrot muffins made with whole wheat flour, coconut oil and maple syrup! They taste amazing, too. These muffins make a great, quick breakfast!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
My dog Cookie always comes running when I pull out the vegetable peeler. I swear, she can hear it slice through the air before it even touches a carrot. Then she starts jumping up and down for carrot scraps. She can be very demanding. I’ve created an entitled little carrot beast, and I’m not sorry in the slightest.
Cookie loved the development process for this carrot muffin recipe. It took me five tries to get them just right, so she got a lot of carrot scraps in the process. They’re based on one of my cookbook recipes (so good!!!).
These hearty muffins are packed with grated carrots, walnuts and raisins. They have lots of texture, yet they’re still light and fluffy.
Thanks to the nuts and whole grains, these muffins make a good grab-and-go breakfast! They also freeze and defrost well. I just microwave individual muffins for 30 to 60 seconds, until they’re gently warmed throughout.
Watch How to Make Carrot Muffins
What makes these carrot muffins healthy?
Granted, “healthy” is a subjective term, but here are a few reasons why I consider these muffins to be more nutritionally redeeming than most:
- Unlike standard carrot muffins made with refined all-purpose flour, these are made with white whole wheat flour. That means they’re made entirely with whole grains, but you can’t taste them because white whole wheat flour has such a mild flavor.
- Protein-rich Greek yogurt replaces sour cream.
- Coconut oil or olive oil replace butter (olive oil is composed of more monounsaturated fat, and is considered to be more heart-healthy)
- Real maple syrup replaces refined sugar, so these muffins are naturally sweetened.
- Combined, you end up with hearty muffins that taste like carrot cake. You can eat carrot cake for breakfast with these babies!
These muffins are easily adapted to vegan and gluten-free diets, too! See my recipe notes for details.
Please let me know how these muffins turn out for you in the comments! I’m always so eager for your feedback.
Craving more wholesome muffins? Here are a few more favorite muffin recipes on Cookie and Kate:
- Healthy Apple Muffins
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Raspberry Muffins
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Healthy Zucchini Muffins
If you’re baking for a special occasion, you’ll love my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (it’s also naturally sweetened and made with whole wheat flour).
Healthy Carrot Muffins
Healthy carrot muffins made with whole wheat flour, coconut oil and maple syrup! They taste fantastic, too, of course. These muffins make a great, quick breakfast! Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups peeled and grated carrots* (from ¾ pound carrots—about 3 large or up to 6 small/medium)
- ½ cup roughly chopped walnuts
- ½ cup raisins (I like golden raisins), tossed in 1 teaspoon flour
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil**
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt***
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar), for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If necessary, grease all 12 cups on your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and doesn’t require any grease).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Blend well with a whisk. In a separate, small bowl, toss the raisins with 1 teaspoon flour so they don’t stick together. Add the grated carrots, chopped walnuts and floured raisins to the other ingredients and stir to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil and maple syrup and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt and vanilla and mix well. (If the coconut oil solidifies in contact with cold ingredients, gently warm the mixture in the microwave in 30 second bursts.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with turbinado sugar. Bake muffins for 13 to 16 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for two days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
Notes
*Carrot grating tips: You can grate the carrots by hand, or for an easier option, use the grating attachment on your food processor.
**A note on oils: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil will lend an herbal note to the muffins, if you’re into that. Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor, but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
***Note on Greek yogurt: I’ve used a variety of fat percentages and the muffins have always turned out well. Higher fat yogurt will yield a somewhat more rich muffin. You can also substitute plain (not Greek) yogurt, but your muffins might not rise quite as high.
Make it vegan: You can replace the eggs with flax “eggs.” Replace the yogurt with a smaller amount of vegan buttermilk—just mix ⅔ cup non-dairy milk with 2 teaspoons vinegar. Let it rest for 5 minutes before adding it to the other liquid ingredients. Or, use 1 cup vegan yogurt.
Make it dairy free: See buttermilk option above.
Make it egg free: Substitute flax eggs for the regular eggs.
Make it gluten free: Substitute an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the whole wheat flour. Bob’s Red Mill makes a GF blend that works well.
Make it nut free: Skip the walnuts!
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I made these the other day and they are great! I left out the nuts and raisins because my family doesn’t much care for them. The muffins are tender, moist and slightly sweet from the honey! They have a bit more of a dense texture than traditional muffins. Even my husband who isn’t a fan of healthy baked goods has been enjoying them!
Hi Kelly! Thank you for posting this comment! I scrolled through the comments section yesterday while baking this recipe, and although it was familiar when I read it, I had baked anything in so long, I would have likely overmixed if I hadn’t seen your comment. Thank you thank you! Mine turned out moist and delicious :)
It is seriously good. I have done this twice in the last month. Delicious! Great job Kate and Cookie
I made the carrot muffins and they turned out delicious
I’m glad you loved them, Vita! Thank you for sharing.
Am allergic to honey, can you please suggest the right substitute for it? Also, what temp should we bake the muffins at?
Hi, you can use maple syrup instead if you like.
I’ve made these muffins twice in the last week and they’ve been a hit! Perfect recipe and perfect muffins. Thanks a lot :-)
My daughter and I just made these and they are fab! Neither of us are a fan of raisins and nuts in baked goods so I left them out; and I used tahini in place of the oil. They are light, moist, and not too sweet. The kind of muffin you can feel good about eating for breakfast!
Can I use oat flour in this or coconut flour?
Hi Melissa! See my oat flour post, and that should help guide you! Coconut flour isn’t a great flour substitute.
I’m notorious for not following recipes exactly, so apologies in advance to the recipe purists :-)
I made the following changes:
Used 3/4 cup regular oats in place of 3/4 cup of the flour.
Left out the nuts.
I had about 1/2 cup of carrots left over from processing them so I just added them into the mix.
It came out really well. I will try it next time with applesauce instead of oil…trying to reduce both sugar and fat in our diet.
Thanks!
Hi. You’ve probably already made it with the apple sauce; but, if you haven’t try only replacing half of the oil with the applesauce. If you remove the oil all together it will make the muffin stick to the paper because of the reduced fat. If you aren’t putting paper then just forget I commented this.
I made these with the pulp leftover from juicing carrots! Yummy!
Great idea. I am going to do this. I also use my pulp to make carrot pecan burgers! Im always looking for a way to use the pulp.
How would one add bananas to this recipe? Or should I add carrots to your banana muffin recipe to get the combo of banana with carrots?
Hi! Unfortunately, I can’t say for sure without testing it myself. Add/changing ingredients can impact the entire recipe.
I always use banana instead of the sugar/maple syrup in muffin recipes. I just use the exact same amount of mashed banana.
I made these this morning, and they were such a hit! I’m the nanny to children aged 3, 4, and 6, and they each gobbled up two for morning snack. I had some blueberries that needed to be used, so I threw those in; otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly and they were delicious! (We got 15 muffins) Filing this recipe under “Make again soon”.
Kate- if we have some family members with big sweet tooths, and want to make it a little sweeter, what would be the best way to accomplish this? Thanks!
Hi Jamie! You could sprinkle a little turbinado sugar on the top. Let me know what you think!
Delicious! I didn’t have walnuts and don’t like raisins so I added 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds and they are so moist and savoury.
Thanks for sharing how you made these fit your taste, LL.
These and your apple muffins are the best I have ever made. Sooooo hard to make healthy muffins for kids and adults that actually taste good. Can’t wait to try your zucchini ones too. I used buckwheat flour and flax eggs and they turned out so well!
Thank you for your feedback, Sarah! I hope you love my zucchini ones too.
I tried these today.. swapped about 2tb flour for corn starch, walnuts for an equal amount of ground pumpkin seeds (my family can’t eat walnuts) and about 2.5 C carrots. I skipped the raisins. They came out delicious!! Definitely making them again! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
These were so good, a little bit addictive even. I love carrot cake, and the muffins were like a healthier version of that. I used the vegan options for the eggs and buttermilk. I made it gluten free by using an equal amount of oat flour (I did not use the oat flour conversion method as mentioned on this blog). I was a little short on carrots; I only had 1 3/4 cups of carrots. I added 1/4 cup of shredded coconut to make up the difference; that worked great. Also, I used zante currants instead of raisins. My muffins took 17 minutes to cook, but they were very moist. If I make these again, I will reduce the amount of sweetner by half and use coconut sugar instead. The maple syrup was a little too sweet for me to want to eat this for breakfast. Five stars for a recipe that works well even when not made as written.
Just made it today. Muffins came out so moist and delicious. I didn’t have raisins so I added some dates (pitted and chopped) as substitute.
Thank you!
Hi, if you used dates, did you reduce the sugar at all?
I’m not exactly sure what’s going to stop me from making these every single time we get lots of carrots from our CSA farm, because they’re FANTASTIC! I could hardly believe you could put so much grated carrots in a 12-muffin batter fand still have them come out so beautifully. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour, so consider this an official 100% “yes” to any questions as to whether that works well. Such a healthy recipe that I’ll never have to look for another carrot muffin recipe again. THANK YOU!
I’m glad you loved them! Thank you for sharing it works well with the Bob Red Mill substitute.
I made this and replaced the maple syrup with date paste since I’ve been avoiding refined sugar, maple syrup and honey this year, and this is by far the sweetest muffin I’ve made in my sugar-free journey. These are delicious.
Absolutely amazing!! Most carrot muffins and very greasy, but this one was great. I could barely taste that I used whole wheat flour and others didn’t even notice. One note: if you use only walnuts (or raisins) I’d recommend using 3/4 cup. These are my new favourite carrot muffins ever!
Made them 2x so far. They freeze, thaw really well
These were great! I didn’t have quite enough Greek yougurt, so added low cal sour cream to make enough. Used pecans, as we don’t eat walnuts. Nice and crunchy on outside and moist and tender inside.
Love the muffins! They are hearty and very tasty. I like that they are not too sweet. This is definitely a keeper! Thank you.
I tried them as per recipe and them came out really good.
I used vanilla 5% greek yogurt as I did not have regular and did not add vanilla essence.
Only concern was they turned out very dense and did not rise much.
Any suggestions would help
Thank you for a great recipe
Hi Bryan, we always have vanilla greek yoghurt on hand and that is the only kind I’ve ever used in this recipe, and I do not leave out the vanilla. I don’t know if that matters at all with the “denseness” of the muffins, but the only thing I can suggest that might address that is to ensure you don’t mix the dry and wet ingredients together too much. Overmixing is the biggest “no no” when making muffins!
Hi Kelly! Thank you for posting this comment! I scrolled through the comments section yesterday while baking this recipe, and although it was familiar when I read it, I had baked anything in so long, I would have likely overmixed if I hadn’t seen your comment. Thank you thank you! Mine turned out moist and delicious :)
Hi Kate,
I’ve just purchased a silicone mini-muffin pan; do you have any suggestions on how I should modify the recipe accordingly? Time-wise and/or temperature-wise?
By the way, I’ve made your healthy apple, zucchini and banana muffins too, and I would rate them all with five stars! I’ve baked them all many times and I will continue to do so, and therefore, I will apply your response to this question about the carrot muffin recipe modification to all the other muffin recipes as well…
Thanks in advance,
Kelly
Hi Kelly! You should be able to decrease the time by half, keeping the same temperature. Let me know how it works for you! The silicone may change it some. I’m glad you have loved the recipes you have tried so far! That’s great.
Thank you for this recipe. It’s delicious! My 21 month old loves it. Looking forward to trying out more recipes from your site.
Love these as muffins. Any luck turning these into a loaf?
Hi Sonal! I haven’t tried it, but it may work. Let me know if you try it!
I tried these as a loaf—and I’m still in awe at how deliciously yummy and sliceable and moist it is. Standard loaf pan, baked 350F for 40 to 45 mins. Cool before slicing!
Can I substitute the white whole wheat flour for blanched almond flour?
And for sweetener, what would be the amount of monk fruit sugar?
Hi Diana! Unfortunately, almond flour doesn’t work great as a 1:1 substitute. You could try oat flour if you need it to be gluten free. Check out my post on oat flour for my tips!
I made these today, they were soooo airy and delicious! I didn’t have nutmeg or vanilla and they still turned out great. I can’t wait to gather all the ingredients and make them again. They were a little bit too oily for my taste, I will only use a tablespoon of coconut oil next time.
Is the mixture supposed to be really thick? Not sure if or where I went wrong but the mixture was like dough
Hi Jess, How did it turn out?
Can I use this batter for a loaf pan? If so, what temperature should I bake at?
Hi! I haven’t tried it, but it may work. I would keep the temperature the same, and increase the time. Although, I’m not sure how much.
Would you write the recipe in grams, please?
Because I live in Europe and here we do not use your measurement system. I will be thankful!.
Hi Jecky, I’m sorry for the frustration, but since the U.S. uses different measurements that is my standard.
Hi Jecky
I live in Australia and simply measure a cup as our standard cup (which is the same as Europe I believe) and it works out absolutely fine. I use a lot of online recipes and never worry about adjusting to account for US cup measurements, although use grams if available.
Go forth and conquer – the muffins are delicious!
Kate, thank you :)
Tricia
I understand! But no, in Europe we do not use cups as a standard measurement. I’ll try the method that you have use. Thank you!
You can convert measurements online. Here is one example. There are many resources online – just use google.
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/
Hi Jecky, I also live in Europe and I recommend you buy a small set of cups with the standard measurements. (1 cup, 1/2 cup etc) . It makes it so much easier to follow American recipes.
Love these muffins! Thanks! One question, I want to make these sugar/honey etc free. If I leave out the honey, do I need to replace the honey with another wet ingredient, like yogurt or oil so the dough is not getting to dry?
Hi Stefanie! Leaving out the sugar would impact your overall result as it helps with flavor and to rise.
I thought they were great and better than that, my 11 year old son did as well. He wanted something kind of plain for breakfast he could grab on the go and loves carrot cake so this was perfect. I left out the raisins and walnut and nutmeg ( couldn’t find it) and I used regular whole wheat flour. It was definitely dense and I used 3 HUGE carrots not even bothering to measure how much graded carrot it made. At the last minute I decided to make a glaze of powdered sugar, butter and water so the son would not deem them ” too healthy.” Still better than a regular muffin nutrition wise. I used a full fat 5% greek Fage yogurt to keep him full till lunch. LOVE IT
You mentioned’ you can replace the oil with applesauce’. Is it a 1:1 ratio? So, 1/3 cup apple sauce?
Hi Robyn! That is correct. :)
Our family’s favorite muffin recipe! I’ve made this so many times since I’ve found this recipe. Every single time I make them I get complimented and asked for the recipe. These are gold! Bonus because my toddlers love them! I’ve even made them with strawberry almond milk yogurt in a pinch because I was out of regular Greek yogurt and they were fantastic. Thanks for such an amazing recipe!
I’m excited these have been such a hit for you, Kirstin! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Hey! I have made this recipe a 3-4 times now – the first few days the muffins are great. However, they end up turning very gummy and sticky with a strong odour and they are uneditable after that. Do you know why that would be ? Thanks !
Hi Brittany! If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for two days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
I keep ours in the fridge as there’s only the two of us at home now. They keep for 5 days easily. So nice to have healthy muffins on hand! I make these regularly as I’m training for a half marathon. One muffin with a protein shake is great post training
2nd time I made these! I use thin sliced almonds, I add a few dashes of cardamom and I replace the maple syrup with date paste.
Hi Kate, we really like this recipe! I found it by searching for “carrot muffins”. I made a few substitutions because of what is in my pantry. Here they are: skyr diluted with kefir (3/4 to 1/4 ratio respectively),
avocado/canola oil. Also, I fine grated the carrots to get a good distribution throughout the muffins. I made sure that the carrots were well coated with the dry ingredients by using my hands. I will put a reference to you when I write my food blog!
I tired this recipe today. The flavour and taste is amazing. But my cupcakes sank and became dense. Don’t know why. I used flax eggs.
These were very easy to make and the author spells out EVERYTHING so there’s no surprises or questions while baking these. I LOVE THIS because in baking recipes there’s often at least one unanswered question.
They taste delicious and are healthy! Superb addition to my boyfriends lunches! Thank you!
I’m glad you loved them, Vanessa! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Absolutely loved these muffins. Made exzactly as per recipe.
So moist and loved the texture of walnuts, and natural healthy sweetness of maple syrup. Thankyou Kate:)
Have you ever considered making a “confetti muffin” …. maybe adding a little of all or a lot of the additional fruit/veggie options together into one muffin? I was really enjoying your individual healthy muffins… but was wondering if we could combine them a bit m ofe to make a super food muffin?
Hi Megan, I don’t have any plans currently to make that kind of muffin. But, I will take down your request! I can’t make any promises, but I do love to hear what readers want to see.
Delicious! Very satisfying – and thank you for adding the variation section.
You’re welcome, Doreen! I appreciate your review.
You could use half a banana to replace an egg.
Oh my! These are delightful! I needed something to do with all the carrot pulp after juicing them and this was perfect! I am going to make more and freeze them. That is if they make it to the freezer.
My family loves these muffins! I always make a double batch of mini muffins and regular ones for the week.
Has anyone used atta whole wheat flour? My husband bought a large bag of atta flour by accident and I am trying to use it up. I used it to make these carrot muffins today and they turned out ok but I definitely prefer the texture when using regular whole wheat flour.
Hi Melissa, I’m not too familiar with atta flour. I know it’s used to make flat breads so I’m not sure it will rise as you intend. Sorry to not be of more help!
Just made these after a morning trail run and we loved them!! Thanks Cookie and Kate
Can you make this as a loaf instead of muffins? I love your zucchini one!
Cheers,
Kate.
Hi Kate! I haven’t tried it, but I believe you could. You would need to increase the cooking time, but I’m not sure on how much. Let me know if you try it!
I made these gluten-free with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour and they are delish. I didn’t put nuts or raisins either, just wanted a soft, squishy treat. Also my yogurt was vanilla (not plain) so that probably added some sweetness :)
I love that I can just swap wheat for GF flour in pretty much all of your recipes that I’ve tried, and they are just as good as I’d imagine they’d be with wheat.
THANKS :)
These look amazing! Do you think I can safely replace the flour with whole spelt flour? I live in a country where white whole wheat flour isn’t a thing…
Hi Noya! I haven’t tried it with these muffins, but I do know that it works in my banana bread. If you try it, let me know!
Made these tonight, sub’d 1/4 whey protein powder in place of flour, used chopped dates for raisins, and sweetened shredded coconut for walnuts. They came out great! I will definitely make these again. I also like the healthy blueberry muffins.